May/June 2005

"Push email" is gradually entering the mainstream high-end mobile phone market. This is the system in which messages are sent to mobiles automatically, rather than having to be downloaded explicitly. It was one of the early selling points of the BlackBerry handheld range, but is now appearing much more widely.

Among the latest contenders to offer such a system is Vodafone, which has announced the European roll-out of a service that will deliver real-time remote access to email, contacts and calendar direct to a range of business-focused mobile devices.

Initially these will include the Vodafone v1620, the Motorola MPx220, the Nokia 6630 and the Sony Ericsson P910i. Other models are due to be added.

Under the Vodafone system, details are automatically "pushed" to the user's selected device, and updates made on the device are automatically reflected on their office-based PC. Users can also choose to download email attachments in popular office formats including Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint and Adobe PDF.

 

When we closed for press, the service was available in Germany, Greece, Italy, France and Finland, but Vodafone had not yet announced a launch date for the UK.